This poem is about when you have a “prickly” loved one, and that creating a little space, stepping back figuratively or literally, can be a healthy form of detachment for all concerned…
Cactus Love
Love is like
Love is not like
A cactus
That rarified
Blooming life
When you least
Expect it
And lessens that prick
Of mine fullness
Keep present-ing
It is quiet OK
To let alone
For spells sow long
Fumbling to grasp
That awe of life
Is not soully felt knead
Here is a poem for a hot summer week culminating in July 4th. May we celebrate Mother Earth in dependence!
Something Shady, On Mother Earth
In a hot flash of incite
On Mother Earth
I was dam well contemplating
Something shady
As ponder us
Was she used too
In deteriorating brood and litter
As owed as carbon dating
Suffering fuels
And inconceivable men paws
A poaching sum expiration date
Though eye was prospecting
At the edge of the forced
Just pining
Fore a touch more than a small parch
Seer-ing
Amor like high noon
Then the mourn of a knew age
Getting down
With rounding up
The species argument
Of de-serving
Here the calling out
Whoa is me
And byway of a miracle
I helled out
Sow
For the time being
I put it in park
Under my mother’s alms
A son taking leave
Sheltered from the raze
Still
Soully axing
What will
We due
With some kind of
Heir conditioning
Other than what
Might cut us down
This poem is a reflection on a natural tendency to overestimate our own goodness and others’ badness. Hubris is powerfully deceptive; and, much like honesty, humility pays, but not as much as I’d like it to…
Good, Bad, In Different
I under went
An out-of-sight incite
That people are neither
As good as you think
As bad as you think
Halving two live
In the grate mettle
Ground
In a crucible
Of ether
Ore
Down with
Mixing up
This precarious pare
As I soully peer
Too others
As equally
Con fused
And I am
Flee to under stand
Being bound
To this yoke on us
This poem was inspired by the duo of unparalleled parallels in the trifectas of: being completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble; and acceptance, courage, and wisdom…
Up To, Unparalleled Living
“Jesus promised his disciples three things –that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.”
–William Barclay’s commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can, and
Wisdom to know the difference.
–Short form “Serenity Prayer” from Reinhold Niebuhr
Hear, I AM
Holy fearless
Inexplicably happy
Awe ways in trouble
Abut in a good weigh
Accepting things looking up
In unparalleled living
From mirror existence
And won with wisdom
Even
Wreathed by folly
And stone, cold
Markers in my land
Amor, then willing
To no the deference
To foolishness
As know one
Who no’s the trouble
I’ve scene
And what can
As I am
Unfrayed of change
Fearing only too due my apart
Bowing soully
To the greater won
NOTE: for the full version of “Serenity Prayer” see: https://proactive12steps.com/serenity-prayer/
This poem is of the Taoist tradition, treasure of parent opposites…
No Locks on Adores
I found myself
In that plays
The greatest presence
Away with words
The keys of silence
Wear there
No locks on adores
Soully able
To stand
Still
Holy unfurled
Entranced
By awe there is
Every wrinkle unfolding
As lightening unbolting
Treasuring beyond belief
All that
Is mine
Unjarred
NOTE: To fully appreciate this poem, the second to last line, “Is mine,” is a triple pun: 1) mine as that which I possess; 2) mine as a place where one extracts treasure; and 3) mine as mind, as in mind unjarred. Treasure on…
Another poem for the birds…
Every Singular Day
Be for the light
The birds sing
Conspiring to commence
Every singular day
Here is a poem about the recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion fortifying nationalistic policies to “turn back” refugees, standing against this international human right previously affirmed by Congress. Let US overturn such a ruling and regain being on the right side of history…
Voyage of the Dammed — Owed to Welcoming Refugees
The 1939 voyage of the SS St. Louis carried hundreds of German Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany who were turned back by many nations, including the United States. After return to Nazi Germany, hundreds of the refugees were murdered. This became known as “The voyage of the damned.”
Hear, we are
A mist
The rising tide
Of blood and soil
Look, US in efface
As you turn back
That time to watch
That interrupted voyage of the SS
Crossing
As unqualified high sees
A bout
The flush verse US
The dammed
How due wee get
Amor, then well come
Soully to be
Come
Neighborly nation
A civil quest in
Posed to sow much “more than”
See wall
And levees taxed
In regard to the pour
Cared out to sea
Caste aweigh
Into the far right
Aside of history
This poem is my answer to the false White “Christian” ethnonationalists who have been the dark heart of anti-refugee and anti-immigrant efforts among US for many generations.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued two devastating opinions eviscerating the international human right to seek asylum as a refugee at a border, fortifying policies to “turn back” refugees; and secondly, virtually ending any right for refugees already in the U.S. under Temporary Protected Status, many who are long-term residents and have “mixed status” families (spouses, children who are U.S. citizens). For more details watch this Democracy Now news segment.
Mustering Up, The Least
“What you have done to the least of these, you have done to me.” –Unknown non-white, non-English-speaking foreigner who was unjustly threatened and then killed by a nation’s elite
In a relatively species argument
White “Christian” ethnonationalists wince agin
At a God of an other
Land
Blood
Homme
Spirit
Speaking in tongues
Knot their own
More and more
Inciting sentries passed
Mine verses yore
The nativists are wrest less
Frayed of their own
Shadow
More and more
A resurrection peep-hole
Un-Abel
Too due any thing
Abut raising Cain
Soully to raze
One’s family
Deaf to
There cries Jesus
What you halve
Done to me
“The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” – Leviticus 19:34
Practicing compassion on my enemies is the most direct route to rooting out enmity in my heart…
Mercy Me
Mercy soully peered to me
When I got winned
Of mercy for my enemy
Then, like a dove
Or bettor fly
Peace landed
On me
And sow much more
Here is a poem about the unseen and unheard masses of people, ignored by oversized people…
The Littlest People
There are masses of little people
Whose scene is obstructed
By those who possess
Such a little peephole
Through and threw
The looking glass
The bust people
Who soully see themselves
Bronzed
Marbled
Oversized
When in deed
The owner class
Embodies narrow mined
As a madder of fact
They rank
The littlest of awe
Let us celebrate that sexuality in the animal kingdom is not binary, with gender fluidity wildly present…
Sea Horse Sense – Owed to Gender Fluidity in Nature
Male seahorses are the ones that get pregnant and give birth. They carry fertilized eggs in a special brood pouch until the young are ready to be released into the water.
Male sea horses
Are given a present
And the future
To bask it
As female sea horses
Bestow their eggs
To the masculine pouch
Beyond pursing lips
And fertile eyes
Conceiving anew
Generations
To follow
In gendering love
And don’t even ax me
In hi regards
To gay penguin dads
Fabulously suited
To adopt a nestling
In chic fashion
Here is a poem about the growing progressive wins in elections around the US…
Progressive Wins
The vary workers
Who billed the table
As their seats
Filled buy crappy politicians
Are a bout
To be taken aback
Knot by unfunded wars
And unfunded human services
But by outstretched arms
And sturdy arts
Willing too due the work
Of loving won another
As sow over
Over and over
Over lords
Growing anew tomorrows
Just us
Today
This poem is a reflection on the shorter-term compromises we make in life, often made with a sense of desperation or resignation, that undercut our deeper values in the longer-term. The upside is that holding fast to our deepest values gives an enduring experience of contentment and meaning, and even sprinkled with many presents of awe…
Apportion of Living
For a wile
The pros and the cons
Had me
Convinced
Of what is
Right
Now
And still
I just
Find myself
More and more
Halving lived
In what
Remains
In the wrest
Bye alrights
I am
Left
With awe
In Toledo, in America, and worldwide, video surveillance threatens our democracy, civil liberties and right to privacy. This poem reflects on this “state” of affairs…
Who Gets Too Pic?
America gets
A facial
Recognition
Of superficial liberties
Whenever the state wants too
No you
Regard less of privacy
A virtual mug shot
In the efface
Of constitutional weighs
Of a government maid of our image
This poem is a reflection on the trifecta of faith, hope, and love…
Faith, My Friends
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” –Hebrews 11:1
Life is full
Of awe things
Hope fully people of substance
That even sow
A mist lifting
Whatever
Might be
That wannabe scene in the whirled
The evidence of things knot
Right before our eyes
Faith hauls as
No one ails
On hour watch
And never the less
Fate bows soully to love
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
— 1 Corinthians 13:13
Religion in as few words as possible is awe the better…
Awe There Is
Religion is awe
There is
Accept when it’s knot
A poem reflecting on swamp monster enlightenment…
Reflecting Pool
Won thing he was
The master of self-love
The Narcissus gaze
Into reflecting
Pool
Falling in
Love
His ultimate realization
Green with envy
At the best
Swamp ever
And monster epiphany
Green is the new orange
Not figuring, it out, is the way to transcendence…
Out Figuring
He had
Along tried
Too figure
Figuring
It out
Such surpassing subjects
And subjectivity
Soully to become
A transcendent figure
One of my favorite “watch anytime” movies is Parenthood. One of the many quotable quotes is: My whole life is “have to” [movie clip here]. In my spiritual dyslexia, I reverse this quote into: My whole life is vacation. For those not retired, you can substitute: My whole life is vocation — where “vocation” is a passionately good thing. This poem is a reflection on the suckiness of living a whole life of “have to.”
A Hole Life of “have to”
Q: Do you really have to go?
A: My whole life is “have to.”
–from the movie, Parenthood
Weave got to
Stop meting like this
No’ing know other way
Wear necessity
Seams like frayed
Of sew sew much
Wanting, wanting, wanting
One thing
If only
Amor then halve two
If lonely
Life whir
Rather craven
A flee for awe
Just
Whatever
May be
Soully walking a way
That fine lyin’
Wear awe of life is taken
Wear less is amor
In case you didn’t notice, there is a lot going on. Of course, allot of a tension is paid to all of the fighting. Less attention is directed behind the seeings. I am a big fan of the Gandhi saying: “First they ignore you; then they laugh at you; then they fight you; then you win.” There is a lot happening in what people often ignore, plus in the stuff that people ridicule. This poem is a reflection on the quiet a lot of stuff happening where very few are even looking…
Fallow Fields?
They dis regarded them
As fallow fields
Unknowing
That see’ds germinate
Sum times
Spore radically
After a thousand years
Taken to places
Where few can fallow
